Europe Union Moves Toward a Bailout of Greece
The Lombardy region of northwestern Italy borders on Switzerland. It should come as no surprise that spring doesn’t always start in early March. Lombardy is home to the fashion and economic capital of Italy, Milan, and is also the lake region of Italy. You won’t regret a spring visit.
The first Monday of March the village of Nesso, population 1300, situated about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Milan holds the Fiera di Marzo, a country fair of merchandise and animals on a bank of Lake Como. On or about March 18 the small town of Lezzeno, population 2 thousand, also situated about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Milan hosts its annual Palio dei Falo (Bonfire Competition), a centuries old tradition in which neighborhoods compete for the largest, loveliest, and the most unusual bonfire.
The town of Castelleone, population 9 thousand, located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Milan starts their Bonfire of San Guiseppe early on March 19 when runners carry a small statue from the Sanctuary of Caravaggio to the Church of Santa Maria of Misericordia. Then a large parade carries the statue throughout the town streets. At night there’s a giant bonfire with plenty of food and wine. Brembio, population 2400, some 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Milan hosts a Rabbit Show with hundreds of those furry creatures around March 19. On March 31 Zogno a city of 9 thousand 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Milan celebrates the Ciacciata di Marzo (Kicking March Out!) Festival, where the young people invade the streets in the afternoon and evening; ringing cowbells to say goodbye to Old Man Winter.
The city of Cremona, population about 72 thousand, some 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Milan holds an antique show called A Thousand Toys. Many of the toys are literally hundreds of years old. Even if you don’t have kids circle the first Sunday in April on your calendar. On April 9 and 10 the town of Pontida, population 3 thousand situated some 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Milan hosts a costumed parade commemorating a local alliance to fight the head of the Holy Roman Empire, Federico Barbarossa. A little later in the month the city of Brescia whose population is about 200 thousand holds a firearms and accessories show.
On the second weekend of May Brescia hosts the Mille Miglia (Thousand Mile Race), a non-competitive version of the world famous auto race of the 30’s and 40’s. Hundreds of thousands of spectators watch 400 classic cars zip through the city streets as part of a thousand mile (1600 kilometer) race throughout northern and central Italy. The city of Legnano, population about 60 thousand, holds its Carroccio Festival & Palio delle Contrade on May 23rd to celebrate a military victory in 1176. Hundreds of people parade in medieval costumes. There is an ox cart and then a horse race. A few days later the city of Caravaggio, population 16 thousand, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of you know where, hosts the Madonna of the Fountain celebration commemorating Madonna’s miraculous appearance in 1432 to console a young woman in distress. Why not celebrate the final Sunday of May in the beautiful walled city of Bergamo, population 120 thousand, situated about 60 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Milan at the Bergamo Marathon? You may even apply to run.
Levi Reiss wrote or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but to tell the truth, he would rather just drink fine Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. Check out his wine website http://www.theworldwidewine.com with a weekly column reviewing $10 wines and new sections writing about (theory) and tasting (practice) organic and kosher wines.BRUSSELS — In a tense game of brinksmanship, the European Union is moving toward the first bailout in the history of its common currency, which is expected to involve loan guarantees from the German and French governments to encourage their banks to buy Greek debt.
Even as the negotiations continue, the bloc is insisting that Athens impose further, painful austerity measures, in part to overcome political opposition in Germany to providing aid to the spendthrift Greeks.
During a brief visit, due to start Monday, Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, will press for more spending cuts and tax increases in Greece as a precursor to an emerging package of financial support.
With no structure in place for dealing with a threatened default within the 16-nation euro zone, officials are making up the rules as they go along. That means that politics — as much as economics — is determining the outcome of the worst crisis in the decade-long lifespan of the euro, creating a kind of phony war in which battles are being fought by leaks and behind-the-scenes briefings.
European officials say that the purchase of Greek bonds by state-owned lenders like Germany’s KfW — backed by German government guarantees — is likely to be involved in any solution and has been an option under discussion for three weeks.
Other alternatives, including ones that involve more countries in the euro zone, are also being discussed. France’s state-owned bank Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, may be involved, one Greek newspaper reported Saturday, while France’s Finance Minister. Christine Lagarde, told Europe 1 radio on Sunday that there are “a certain number of proposals in the euro zone, involving either private partners or public partners or both.”
But Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is not ready to sign off on a rescue, officials said, before Greece has pushed through further cuts.
One European official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that Greek officials appeared to be briefing journalists on the prospect for an big rescue package in the hope of pushing the European Union into a quick solution, or of convincing the markets that help is at hand.
“The Germans will not put a euro on the table until there is a credible austerity package,” the official said.
Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Center for European Reform, said that France and Germany recognize that some form of bailout is inevitable, but that, to enable a bailout to be sold to a skeptical German public, the Greeks first “have to be seen to be suffering.”
Much of the negotiating focuses on the Greek prime minister George Papandreou. On Friday, Mr. Papandreou met with Josef Ackermann, the chairman of Deutsche Bank, in Athens; on March 5 he plans to visit Mrs. Merkel in Berlin. He also is scheduled to meet President Obama in Washington on March 9.
Lurking behind the discussion are a variety of power plays involving Brussels, Paris, Berlin and Athens. Germany is reluctant to sanction any bailout knowing that, as the euro zone’s biggest economy, it will bear the brunt of the cost. But France and Germany also believe that any recourse by Greece to the International Monetary Fund would damage the prestige of the euro, highlighting its inability to sort out internal problems.
Moreover, France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy is said to be particularly reluctant to see a rescue orchestrated by the monetary fund, which is led by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Frenchman and a potential rival in the next presidential elections.
Precisely that threat is being made privately by Greek officials, according to one European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The Greek government can be pushed only so far, said Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies.
Such brinkmanship on both sides was brought about by the lack of clarity from an European Union summit earlier this month when leaders promised “determined and coordinated action” if needed to protect the euro’s stability.
Refusing to specify what this would be, European leaders sought to inject more rigor into Greece’s budget deficit reduction program.
Having concealed its true economic situation and largely squandered the proceeds of the good economic years, Greece is not seen as a deserving cause in Berlin.
“Germany has, in the last 10 years, been through very painful social reform which mean curtailing rights and social benefits and pushing back the retirement age,” said Thomas Klau of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of a book on the birth of the euro. “The argument in Germany is ‘why should our workers work to the age of 67 to enable Greeks to retire earlier?’”
But Mrs. Merkel is under equally strong pressure from her European partners to protect the euro from the consequences of a Greek default. “She has to show leadership,” Mr. Klau said, “in taking and pushing through a decision which is unpopular with her electorate and much of her party and is not backed wholeheartedly by her junior coalition party”.
Already the Greeks have agreed to freeze wages, cut bonus, crackdown on tax evasion and raise the official retirement age. But European officials have made it clear that they do not believe these measures go far enough to narrow Greece’s budget deficit. Athens is now weighing an increase of two percentage points in the 19 percent value-added tax, higher fuel prices and the possible abolition of one of two additional months of pay received by public sector workers and by employees of many private firms.
The new austerity package is likely to be announced after Mr. Rehn’s visit to Athens but well in advance of a crucial meeting of European finance minister on March 16.
